Cincinnati Bengals vs. Washington Commanders Observations: Defense Gashed by Rookie QB

CINCINNATI – Tim Krumrie must have been sick to his stomach, along with most of the other 66,207 fans who were watching Monday night at Paycor Stadium.

One of the best defensive players in franchise history, Krumrie, was on hand to go into the Cincinnati Bengals Ring of Honor along with former running back Corey Dillon.

And both legends had to watch one of the worst defensive performances of the Zac Taylor/Lou Anarumo era, as the Washington Commanders, led by a rookie quarterback making his third career NFL start, scored touchdowns on their first four possessions on the way to a 38-33 upset before a national television audience on Monday Night Football.

Bengals Fall to 0-3 With Loss to Washington

The loss dropped the Bengals to 0-3 and looking for answers.

Only 2.4% of teams that have started 0-3 since 1990 have made the playoffs.

Here are some quick observations at the gun:

Lack of Pressure

The Bengals have been looking for supplemental pass rush from someone other than Trey Hendrickson, who had 12 pressures through the first two games.

They didn’t find it Monday night against the Commanders, and complicating matters was the fact that Hendrickson didn’t provide much either.

A big part of that was the fact Washington rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels got the ball out of his hands quickly, as he’d done in the first two games. But there were times when he sat in a clean pocket waiting for receivers to come open.

An example of that came on the opening drive of the second half when Daniels had all kinds of time to find Noah Brown to set up 1st-and-goal at the one-yard line, where the Bengals fell victim to an eligible offensive lineman catching a touchdown for the second week in a row.

Hendrickson finally got home for a sack with 6:30 remaining as Washington was trying to expand the lead to a two-score advantage. Two plays later on 4th-and-4, Daniels hit tight end Zach Ertz at the Cincinnati 30-yard line with four minutes to go, beginning the countdown to the victory.

Lack of More

Pressure wasn’t the only thing lacking for the Cincinnati defense. Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt called Washington a “nice college offense,” earlier this week, and Kliff Kingsbury’s group came in and lit up the Cincinnati defense for 206 yards and 21 points in the first half.

And 55 of those yards came on a deep shot from rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels to Terry McLaurin with Taylor-Britt beaten in coverage. It looked as though Taylor-Britt thought he had help over the top, but McLaurin outran safety Geno Stone as well.

Taylor-Britt got called for an illegal hands-to-the-face penalty on the opening drive of the second half, leading to Washington’s fourth consecutive touchdown drive (not counting the first-half kneel-down).

Three times in short yardage there was all kinds of confusion. One resulted in a 12-man on-the-field penalty, one was a Washington two-yard touchdown run, and on one they caught a break when Washington called a timeout, then converted 4th-and-1 after the break early in the fourth quarter.

Shortly after that, Daniels stood in the pocket, took a hit from Stone, and delivered a 27-yard touchdown pass to McLaurin for the dagger.

Burrow History Maker

The Bengals wasted no time getting their first explosive touchdown of the season, with Joe Burrow hitting Ja’Marr Chase for a 41-yard touchdown to cap the opening drive. It was a culmination of the shift in offensive philosophy with the Bengals lining up in 12 personnel and getting the shot off play action.

It also was the 100th passing touchdown of Burrow’s career, making him the eighth quarterback in NFL history to reach that milestone in his first 55 games. The others are Patrick Mahomes (40 games), Dan Marino (42), Kurt Warner (49), Deshaun Watson (52), Justin Herbert (52), Andrew Luck (55), and Matt Stafford (55).

The offense was not the issue at all in this one.

In addition to 41- and 31-yard touchdown passes from Burrow to Chase, they found explosives in the run game from both Chase Brown and Zack Moss and scored on every possession except one, when Evan McPherson missed a field goal.

Amarius Mims Debut

Rookie first-round pick Amarius Mims made his NFL debut with 10:13 left in the second quarter when he reported as an eligible receiver in a jumbo set, leading to a Chase Brown 14-yard run. Mims drove Washington safety Jeremy Chinn eight yards off the line of scrimmage, then went back to the sideline.

Five plays later, Trent Brown went down as Joe Burrow was getting sacked. Brown left the game on a cart with a right knee injury. Mims took over and played the rest of the game at right tackle. He gave up his first career sack midway through the third quarter.

The rookie suffered a pectoral injury in the preseason opener and had only been a limited participant in practices before going full for the first time Saturday.

It always felt like it was a matter of time before he took over as the starter, and Brown’s injury may accelerate that.